Seven months had gone by since Asher accepted his second solo mission, and within that time, he had gone on numerous missions, some turning out to have opponents who were almost on Debro’s level, to the extent that Asher couldn’t help but question the overall strength and capability of the students in the third-year class. After all, if a few of these missions ended up having Wavestar Life Ranker enemies, surely, the third years were supposed to be wiped out by now... right?

But after thinking about it for a while, Asher simply concluded that encountering enemies on Debro’s level was merely a possibility; the third-year students’ ability to survive was largely based on how fast and efficiently they could activate and use their Star Academy teleportation scrolls in critical situations.

Also, within these past seven months, Asher had locked himself within the Training Facilities Building of the Star Academy, training back to back with only occasional four to five days’ worth of rest in between cycles, and needless to say, his progress was terrifying in every conceivable measure and aspect.

He had developed various skills under his element, while also refining, polishing, and strengthening his old ones to a much higher degree, but this wasn’t his major focus during his training. His major focus was his Star Energy; Asher had managed to create a few skills under Star Energy, and not only that, he had also successfully created a new Rapier Technique Stanza, the Star Stanza, which was seamlessly added to his Song Of Virelass technique.

Creating such a Stanza was anything but easy for Asher; in fact, it was one of the hardest and most mentally taxing things he had done during his training throughout these past few months. And it wasn’t only that, he also created new series for his other Stanza affinities, while simultaneously upgrading and enhancing the strength, precision, and execution of the old series. After all, he couldn’t just increase his Life Rank without matching it with the corresponding growth of his skills, techniques, and overall combat abilities.

What pleased Asher the most these past seven months was his new affinity... yes, Asher had finally awakened his new affinity, it was a branch of the Star affinity. Seven months ago, he could already tell that he was on the verge of awakening a new affinity, and on his second solo mission, he had actually awakened it in the midst of battle. But, that came with another issue... more training. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Asher wasn’t the type of guy that let his other elements lag behind, he didn’t favor one element over the other in any regard, he preferred to train them all at the same time, maintaining balance and efficiency, meaning he had to push this new affinity to match the destructive power, control, refinement, and finesse of his already established elements; hence, he had to train it from the very beginning.

And also, within these past few months, Finch and William had received various lessons from him... well, Finch, ever the merchant, had coughed up twenty-five thousand academy points in seven months, hence receiving five intensive training sessions from Asher, each pushing him beyond his limits and refining him continuously, turning him into something far greater than what he initially was. As for William, he was only able to pay for three extra training lessons, but even those alone had significantly elevated his combat prowess.

Their progress was indeed immense.

Within these seven months, various students challenged each other endlessly, many climbing the ranks with determination, others falling due to defeat, nobody needed to be told that something was coming, or that something significant was going to happen soom. Parents had already urged their children to train harder and prepare themselves, and with the news of the Logistics and Missions Operations Hall being put on halt temporarily, this only pushed everyone to take on even harder and more dangerous missions than before.

And needless to say, Finch climbed up in the rankings, at this moment, our fat merchant, with his newfound determination, sharpened mindset, and training from Asher, now sat comfortably in the first-year top fifty, this progress was more astonishing than anything, someone who hadn’t even made it into the original two hundred that was selected by the Star Academy, now, at this very moment, had surpassed over a hundred and fifty students in a relatively short span of time.

Honestly, it made Asher doubt Finch a little, wondering if Finch was far more talented than he was letting on, or maybe Finch and Lior’s talents had somehow merged after their fusion, after all, Finch jumped a few Life Ranks after merging with the Positive Emovira, his talent increasing even slightly wasn’t far-fetched or unreasonable to assume.

As for the rankings of the top ten, they remained largely unchanged, William Canestane had managed to sneak his way into the third rank, surpassing the Royal Twins through sheer effort and persistence, but needless to say, they immediately challenged him for the rank, which he lost, then won back, then lost again in an ongoing cycle of rivalry.

The trio were basically going back and forth with it in a competitive struggle for dominance, but at the moment, William held his third-rank position firmly.

As for Ryaen, each person that challenged her came to fully understand why she was called the Bone Queen amongst the first years. She had gotten ridiculous to the point that sometimes, she didn’t even bother using her Bone Manipulation Bloodline abilities and simply finished her opponent with her bare hands, overwhelming them purely through physical prowess.

She was simply that good, if William and the Royal Twins were what the world regarded as the ceiling of geniuses, then Ryaen was a step above that, a monster in her own right, but alas, even amongst monsters, a different caliber of monster existed, one that stood above all others without question.

And that monster was Asher.

While a few in the top ten, and even some daring individuals in the top twenty, had dared to challenge Ryaen Silvershade, Asher remained completely unchallenged, not because he won all his battles, no, but simply because no one had challenged him at all, no one dared, no one even dreamt about it, they saw his name in the rankings and simply accepted it as an unchangeable fact. No one had forgotten about the Prince being turned into a human-shaped charcoal.

Besides, everyone had already gotten the news that he was so overwhelmingly strong that he no longer took first-year-level missions, someone of that caliber wasn’t something they were willing to look in the eye, let alone confront directly.

So, while others enjoyed their youth, challenging each other with passion, excitement, and competitive drive, Asher could only watch from the sidelines, as even Ryaen hadn’t challenged him, as she herself felt she wasn’t strong enough to face him yet.

But Asher cared not about any of this, his world revolved entirely around his routine: completing missions, farming points, getting to the Training Facilities, exhausting those points through intense training, then heading back to the Logistics and Missions Operations Hall, his life was basically a continuous circle, an unending loop for the past seven months without deviation.

But of course, he attended class every once in a while during his designated resting days, as that was simply a method to pass time for him and maintain appearances, but even in such classes, without fail, he still reminded everyone why he was Asher Wargrave.